alasdair f. cannon

The Enjoyment of Negativity

I If God Is Dead, Social Media Is Permitted At the mercy of whatever obscure algorithmic forces now dictate our lives, many of us recently watched new Netflix film, The Social Dilemma. Enraptured by our irascible gods — postmodern deities whose digital powers make a mockery of self-determination, autonomy, free will, the Enlightenment project at large, etc. — we all consumed a film wherein tech evangelists proselytise for approx. 90 mins about the evil technologies they created. Supposedly atoning for their sins, these defectors — the Righteous Reformed — sound a unified clarion call: Big Tech is our Present Disaster, and they are here to help us Fix The Fabric of Democracy — even if they never exactly apologise or take responsibility for their failures.